A guest contribution by Jonathan Mugmon

Every successful wayfinding project starts with the right team. Yet in many design firms, one person is expected to fill every role, planner, designer, and detailer all at once. That may work for small projects, but in large-scale environments, specialization leads to far stronger results. Through three decades of developing wayfinding systems across some of the most complex cities and venues in the world, I’ve seen firsthand how specialization consistently produces better outcomes than the all-in-one approach. The most successful results come from teams built around complementary expertise: wayfinding planners who understand spatial logic and user movement, graphic designers who craft clear and expressive visual systems, and detail technical designers who translate ideas into technically sound, buildable solutions. Each discipline contributes a vital layer of expertise that, together, transforms strategy into meaningful user experiences.

Most people who enter the field of wayfinding come to it fresh, seeking knowledge in a discipline with few formal resources. Practitioners often arrive from related backgrounds, such as architecture, interior design, industrial design, psychology, environmental design, landscape architecture, or UX design. Each brings a valuable perspective but also significant gaps in understanding how to plan, coordinate, and execute complex wayfinding systems. Until now, much of this knowledge has been passed down informally through mentorship, trial, and apprenticeship. The Science of Wayfinding breaks that barrier by offering a detailed framework that explains the entire process from strategy to implementation, giving practitioners a foundation to build upon rather than having to reinvent it through experience.

As an example, the Collaborative Framework Venn, featured in Chapter 6: A Structured Approach, illustrates how these disciplines intersect to create systems that are strategic, communicative, and technically robust. Wayfinding planners interpret the architecture, defining circulation patterns, movement logic, naming and coding systems, and user journeys. Graphic designers translate that logic into system design, establishing visual hierarchy, typography, and iconography that make navigation intuitive and memorable. Detail designers ensure the vision becomes reality by specifying materials and finishes, ensuring durability, and overseeing constructability. When these disciplines work in harmony, the result is more than a coordinated set of signs; it is a holistic, transparent process that encourages collaboration, ownership, and shared purpose. This integrated approach is also more efficient, enabling teams to deliver higher-quality work in less time by leveraging each specialist’s strengths and aligning effort where it has the most impact.

This structured process of design aligns wayfinding with the broader creative and technical workflow of large-scale projects. It demonstrates how the overlap between planning, design, and documentation yields both efficiency and excellence. In an era where environments are growing more complex and expectations for user experience are higher than ever, this approach offers a proven way forward. It references insights from my forthcoming book The Science of Wayfinding, to be published next year, which aims to support designers seeking a clearer process for planning and delivering effective wayfinding systems.

Contributed by Jonathan Mugmon, author of The Science of Wayfinding (coming soon).